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Gas reference materials

Carbon dioxide purity

Supporting Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage

Carbon dioxide purity is an important consideration for Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) processes as impurities can damage equipment/pipelines, reduce storage capacity and affect operational efficiencies. The purity of carbon dioxide must often be declared before it can be provided for storage or use (for instance for food/beverage). The purity of the carbon dioxide will vary depending on the source (such as steam methane reforming, biogas reforming, direct air capture or industrial emissions).

Whilst currently there is no fixed purity specification that CCUS industry can follow for carbon dioxide transport and storage, NPL have developed a guidance specification that has been used to develop new traceable calibration gases and purity analysis methods. These include a wide range of impurities:

Component 

Upper limit [µmol mol-1

Minimum

Maximum

H2

20 

50 

H2

20 

O2 

10 

20 

CH4 

10000 

40000 

N2 

10000 

40000 

Ar 

10000 

40000 

H2 

50 

20000 

C2H6 

10000 

40000 

C3

1500 

20000 

CO 

100 

2000 

SOx 

10 

100 

NOx 

10 

100 

NH3 

10 

1500 

Particulates 

HCl 

10 

70 

HF 

10 

70 

HCN 

10 

70 

Glycol 

0.025 

0.05 

MEA 

0.08 

Amine 

10 

10 

Formaldehyde 

20 

60 

Acetaldehyde 

20 

60 

Cadmium 

0.01 

0.03 

Selexol 

0.6 

0.6 

 

NPL have supported several industries with carbon dioxide quality assurance through the following process: 

  1. Risk assessment: What is the probability of occurence and severity for impurities?
  2. Analysis strategy: What offline and online analytical methods are required?
  3. Sampling: Where should sampling be performed for gas and particulates?
  4. Purity results: NPL report confirming purity of final CO2 product 

NPL provide the following to support CCUS industry:

  • Calibration gas standards / Primary Reference Materials
  • High pressure sampling
  • Carbon dioxide purity analysis
  • Proficiency testing

 

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